by the author of "The Paramedic Heretic" & "America's Dumbest Doctors"

Category Archives: Medical Board Data Base

“The mission of the Medical Board of California is to protect health care consumers through the proper licensing and regulation of physicians and surgeons . . . through the vigorous, objective enforcement of the Medical Practice Act.” (Mission Statement)

The Medical Board of California, hard at work in Sacramento

Question: what often happens when bratty little boys are allowed to break windows and set fires? The same thing that happens when a state medical board shrugs their stooped shoulders at unethical doctors.

They grow from juvenile delinquency to flat-out criminals. No exaggeration here – just undeniable facts. Consider, if you will, the sinful soap opera starring the Medical Board of California, and one doctor Gerard Geoffrey Goryl:

Dr Gerard G Goryl

In December, 2014 a Redondo Beach physician pleaded “Not Guilty” to a litany of felony drug charges. This happened after he was handcuffed and taken off to jail for what detectives said was his illegal possession of $2,000,000 in diet pills squirreled away in a Long Beach public storage unit.

Doctor Gerard Geoffrey Goryl, age 59 at the time, had already been told by the DEA that he could no longer possess or prescribe any narcotics at all, because he had 2 pending drug-related cases and was about to be charged by U.S. Drug Enforcement for still a third criminal complaint.

According to L.A. Superior Court Judge James R. Brandlin, the indictment of the physician involves the following:

1 count, possessing more than $100,000 in cash, when that money has been gathered from illegal drug sales

Goryl, who had operated a clinic he’d cleverly named A Better Weigh in Redondo Beach, was first arrested in June 2014. He was stupid enough to sell prescription drugs to undercover agents.

What did the Medical Board of California do to protect the citizenry, from an MD with 3 dozen felony charges against him? Why, nothing.

So this doc-dork was emboldened to continue selling drugs after being ordered to stop. And . . . and, he got his loony-tunes, lab-coat butt arrested yet again 2 months later, on 8 more felony charges this time.

What do you suppose the California State Medical Board did then to warn his patients? You know, with “protection of healthcare consumers” being their priority and all? Uh, nothing.

It wasn’t until September, 2014, that the Board decided to pull his medical license. You’ll notice they rarely act until one of their bratty charges becomes a public embarrassment. But did they then alert citizens by using the news media, that this habitual pratfall should be avoided like Ebola? Not on your life. The last thing California’s medical board members want, is a knowledgeable public.

Trust us. It is very much to their advantage that 40,000,000 Californians keep their noses pressed deep into their little plastic cell-phone toys. It makes doctor crime so much, uh, easier to ignore.

So Goofy Goryl, a neurology specialist by training, was arrested again on October 21, 2014, after DEA agents, along with Redondo Beach Police detectives, discovered that – surprise, surprise – the clown had a storage unit filled with stacks of cartons, holding a half-million narcotic diet pills and other prescription drugs.

Goryl’s case has not yet gone to trial. No surprise, really. Defense lawyers learn early on that the more serious the case, the better it is to put the trial off as long as possible. You just never know. Evidence can get lost. Witnesses can die. His maximum sentence could be 36 years in Federal Prison, after all. Why rush?

In order to make it easier for our readers to look up their own doctors, we have created a list of state medical boards’ websites. Some state boards have come a long way over the past 5 years in simplifying the information ‘search’ procedure – others leave much to be desired. Many boards appear to do all in their power to obscure criminal or unethical behaviors. A few appear to actually remember what their stated mission is supposed to be: public safety.

One important note: no state medical board that we are aware of, will inform you of doctor-crimes currently under investigation, and none of them – so far as we know – report medical malpractice cases. The best you can hope for is that serious misbehavior might be listed, and that your doctor at least has a valid medical license.

One final note of interest: 6 years ago we wrote a humorous – but totally accurate – book called “America’s Dumbest Doctors.”The book included the names of over 400 physicians who had committed serious misbehavior and/or crimes. Very, very few of those physicians’ negative histories were listed in any state medical board data base.

That fact partially explains why we walk around with steam coming out of our ears most of the time.